Taking a jibe at Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi’s picture of playing with snowballs, Union Minister Anurag Thakur said that Rahul Gandhi should remember the time when the Bharatiya Janata Party hoisted the flag at the Lal Chowk amid fear of bombs and guns. “We saw Rahul and Priyanka playing with snowballs, saw them enjoying a picnic, but maybe they forgot to thank PM Modi, who after coming to power abrogated Article 370 and 35-A,” he said. “And who was it who sowed this seed (Article 370), it was Congress,” he added. He further said that Jammu Kashmir was given special status after independence. More than 45,000 people have been killed there. He asked Rahul Gandhi who is responsible for it. Bharatiya Jansangh Chief Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee sacrificed his life to keep Jammu and Kashmir an integral part of India. He had started a yatra to integrate India. He died under suspicious circumstances. There is no answer to that to date, “Union Minister Anurag Thakur added. “In 1992, BJP chief Murli Manohar Joshi and the then party worker Narendra Modi hoisted the tricolour at the Lal Chowk between bombs and guns. That time was a time of bombs, not snowballs,” he said. “In 2011, as the Yuva Morcha Chief, I started tiranga yatra from Kolkata to Kashmir. The whole of Jammu was surrounded by police, we were arrested and put in jail. Our workers were beaten when the tricolour was hoisted and they were jailed,” he recalled. “The then Prime minister Manmohan Singh said that Anurag Thakur should refrain from hoisting the tricolour, it deteriorates the situation,” he said while recalling the former PM’s statement. “Peace and tourism have increased in Kashmir. More than 2 crore tourists visited after the abrogation of 370 and 35-A. This happened after the Modi government took the steps that were necessary,” he added. He blamed Rahul Gandhi for allowing those people in the yatra that have always wanted to break India. “In your yatra, more people who want to break India were visible. At every place, people who have tried to break India were present,” he said probably pointing out at Mufti and Abdullah. He further said that Rahul forgot to thank Prime minister Narendra Modi who abrogated 370 and 35A, because of which, hoisting the tricolour at the Lal Chowk was possible. (ANI)
